Rs200 Polished inlet manifold

[Inequality Street]

Hi,

With a week off coming up, I am feeling the need for some engine bay bling. As you do.

I got the inspiration from glenn-adam-dobble's project thread, as he has just done his. As he's a lovely bloke, he was kind enough to tell me ow it was he did it, as I had no clue before.

Now, he said he used a Black and Decker Mouse (auto-sander thing) to flat it out to start with. I don't own one of those, and they're about £30.00 so would rather not own one..

How long would you guesstimate it would take me to do this by hand? Working from say 800 grit up to 2500 wet n dry?

He said he then used a metal polish, autosol. Again I dont own this, ut I do have Auto Finesse Mercury. Same thing?


Once completed, if I manage it, how would you protect it from going crappy again? Or is it just long regular maintenance?


Thanks!!

 

[Detail Chris]

Ry it will take you ages and you wont have any skin left on your handies!

 

[Inequality Street]

Ry it will take you ages and you wont have any skin left on your handies!

Thought this may be the case. May invest in a machine sander. If not Im sure my Dad/Grandad will have one somewhere I could borrow. Wll have to work out how to get the bloody thing off first though lol

 

[glenn_adam_doble]

Cheers ry, you will defiantly need a mechanical aid, I started off by hand at first and it would of took me a week to get somewhere close to flat, the inlets are a lot tougher than you think

 

[Inequality Street]

Cheers ry, you will defiantly need a mechanical aid, I started off by hand at first and it would of took me a week to get somewhere close to flat, the inlets are a lot tougher than you think

Looks like I'll be investing in a sander then haha! I would have PM'd you back and ask but I didn't want to bug you

 

[Inequality Street]

Wehey, someone at work is lending me a machine sander, meaning I don't have to buy one. Just need to sort out the sand paper and polishes and I'm ready to go

 

[levaz]

I did my 172 one by hand, *after* sandblasting it.
it took approx. 17 hours, never again by hand!

 

[Dan519]

don't do it, it's a terrible idea, all you will achieve is holding heat in the manifold which ultimately will effect power in a negative way. Polished engine parts get so hot you can't go near them

 

[glenn_adam_doble]

don't do it, it's a terrible idea, all you will achieve is holding heat in the manifold which ultimately will effect power in a negative way. Polished engine parts get so hot you can't go near them

I wouldn't say mine gets any hotter than it did before, but there again I have a caf facing the inlet manifold as I don't run the standard air intake/filter setup

 

[Inequality Street]

don't do it, it's a terrible idea, all you will achieve is holding heat in the manifold which ultimately will effect power in a negative way. Polished engine parts get so hot you can't go near them

Now this I didn't know? I only want it to look pretty, and it's something I can do myself to keep my busy. Would you say it's safer to send it away to get powder coated or something similar?

 

[bozothenutter]

Zircotec?...they do clours now.

 

[davo172]

PAY TO GET IT DONE !!! polishing by hand is a REAL pia (was on my 172 !!! )

Pro polish is MUCH better result

 

[gez 172]

I wouldn't bother doing it IMO. Doesn't look better and it a ball ache to do

 

[Paul R]

Use an angle grinder with a wire wheel, then finish it off with a dremel style gizmo, £30 pounds total. And re-useable for anything else you may have as well. This is how I did my mini hubs.